Pessaky



UNITE earns J. H. ROBINSON, OF OHARLESTOYVN, MASSACHUSETTS.

PESSARY.

T0 all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JONATHAN HovEY ROBINSON, of Charlestown, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Pessary for the Radical Cure of Prolapsus Uteri, and that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein I have set forth the nature and principles of my said invention by which it may be distinguished from others of the same class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent- The pessaries which have heretofore been used, have been mostly either of an elliptical form or ring shape--which is pressed up so as to support the os uteri, having a hole through the center, and resting on the walls of t-he vagina, or with a silver tube, curved at the outer end and passing (straight) up the vagina, and having a cap of wood perforated which supports the os uteri; this last form being denominated the stem pessary. In t-he rst named form for a pessary, as above suggested, the vagina has to support the instrument as well as the uterus, and by constant irritation serves only to increase the evil designed to be remedied. The stem pessary made with the silver tube and wooden cap, as above specified, is objectionable as being unyielding and nonelastic, and is exceedingly inconvenient, when the patient desires to attend to the calls of nature, as the supporting straps in all such cases, have to be unloosed.

By my improvements all these diiculties and objections are obviated, as in the iirst place, the several parts of the instrument are made of a compound, which is sufficiently rigid to give the proper support, and suliiciently elastic to be adapted to the parts, and to yield in case of a blow or great strain or unusual contortion o-r bending of the body. The substance of which the instrument is made, I denominate a carbonated mixture. It is compounded as follows:

Take one half of a pound of gutta percha, and soften it in hot water, then add one quarter of a pound of chloroform and one half of an ounce of carbon or pulverized charcoal; and mix them at a boiling heat, and the compound is then ready to be molded into the desired form.

The pessary as improved by me with the supporting bands, is represented in the accompanying drawing which is a perspective view of the whole.

a a is a bell shaped cap, made so as to it appositely on, and receive the end of the prolapsed uterus. It should be made so small as not, by wearing Contact, to irritate the walls of the vagina, and so as to permit the use of tonics or astringent liquids, introduced by syringe to contract the said walls that they may naturally sustain the falling part. A hole or perforation, b, of proper' size is made near the front of this cap to allow the secretions to pass off. This cap is molded on the top of the bent cylindrical stem, o 0, which is shaped as shown in the drawing, so as to pass up into, and rest in proper position in, the vagina. The bottom of this stem branches out in each direction into, or has molded onto it, an elliptical shield, as I term it, Z l (Z, shaped as shown in the drawing, :sol as to fit properly around the labia. To the sides and front of this shield the suph porting straps, e e-f f-g g, are connected, passing up, as shown in the drawing, to the body belt, 7L zf. The two posterior straps, f f and g g, are connected to the shield on each side thereof near its junction with the stem, e c, and pass up behind the hips to the body belt, h h, but without covering, or coming very near to the anus, and opposing no obstacle to the operations of nature in this direction; while the front strap, e e, attached to the shield as represented, and

connected to the body belt just over or nearthe umbilicus, and the use of the shield tting the labia, as specified, permit urination to go on without moving or saturating the straps.

A stem pessary` constructed of the substance above specified, will not be affected by heat of the body or the secretions of the parts, while its extreme lightness is of great importance; and the use of the shield for the reasons above specied, render it superior to any instrument heretofore devised.

Having thus described my improved stem- In testimony that the foregoing is a true 10 pessary, I shall state my claim as follows: description of my said invention and im- What I claim as my invention, and desire provements I have hereto set my signature to have secured to me by Letters Patent isthis twelfth day of April, A. D. 1849. 5 Forming a stem-pessary With a shield to t around the labia, and to Which the sup- J H' ROBINSON porting straps may be connected, substan- Witnesses: tially in the manner and for the purpose EZRA LINCOLN, Jr.,

herein above specified. WM. SCHOULER. 

